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<title>Gil-Estel by maglor_still_lives</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25102285">Gil-Estel</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/maglor_still_lives/pseuds/maglor_still_lives'>maglor_still_lives</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Gen, Not Beta Read, One Shot, Profanity, in which Maglor catches and eats a raw crab, this was a semi-joke concept that got out of hand</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 03:27:56</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>795</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25102285</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/maglor_still_lives/pseuds/maglor_still_lives</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Maglor has no one else, so he talks to the evening star.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>52</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Tolkien Gen Week 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Gil-Estel</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This started as a narrative and turned into a dramatic monologue... bear with me :)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Waves crashed on the stony beach, drizzling icy spray onto the elf’s matted hair. Cursing, he staggered through the shallows doubled over with one arm outstretched, his fingertips almost brushing the surface of the water. A flicker of motion was just out of reach; the water swelled and retreated, obscuring it as soon as he was close. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>A massive swell rose past his waist, nearly knocking him off balance, but he held his ground and kept his silver eyes fixed on the scuttling creature. The water receded again with unusual force, exposing the animal completely; he lunged for it and felt deep relief as his hand closed around the shell. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He straightened and darted from the ocean before his catch could wriggle away, ignoring the bite of pincers in his thumb. There was a rock a few yards from the sea that was good to sit on, and safe from the tides for a few more hours; he hunched over his lap and contemplated the squirming crab. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maglor’s stomach rumbled. He considered smashing it with a stone, but decided he couldn’t be bothered; braving the stiffness and pain of his right hand, he took hold of the animal by its edges and snapped it in half. A spike of the carapace grazed the livid burn on his palm, making him yelp and almost drop his dinner. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He settled back against the rock and gazed toward the horizon. The sky was gray above him and streaked with muddy yellow where it met the ocean; through the tattered twilit clouds, a faint star shone. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Asshole. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Maglor dug a finger into the crab’s body, feeling for the best organs. His eyes stayed fixed on the star. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Stop looking at me</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Get a life,” he muttered, teasing a delicate piece of soft tissue out of the shell. “Flying around in the sky, day and night, the hell do you actually spend your time on? Watching people?” He slurped down the meat. “You gonna tell Manwë about all the naughty things you see us mortals doing?” He brandished his middle finger halfheartedly towards the offending star, then stuck it back inside the crab.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He hunched over the meal, muttering still. “Gil-Estel, pah! You were hope for the rest of them, but you were nothing more than a taunt for me.” He slipped into a sardonically cheerful voice with a badly mangled Gondolin accent. “</span>
  <em>
    <span>Remember, Maglor, you’re the one who couldn’t take it. You killed my wife and took my children and murdered half my city and you still couldn’t take it from me. Have fun in damnation!</span>
  </em>
  <span>” He swallowed the rest of the meat and threw the empty half of the crab’s body onto the stony beach. “You should be grateful to me, you know. Those children turned out well.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He started on the other half, looking back up at the pinprick of light and addressing it conversationally. “Don’t you ever get bored up there? You can watch everything that happens in Aman or here in Middle-Earth, but you can’t take part, can you? You’re just a damned sentry, and you’re nothing without that jewel. We’re not so different in that sense,” he said with a strange smile. “I’m just a relic. Nobody wants to hear my opinion any more than they would a star’s.” He spread his arms expansively. “And of course--I, too, am nothing without those jewels.” Maglor tossed the second half of the body aside and started on the crab's legs.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If you’re watching, and you see something terrible happen, can you do anything about it? Hell, you probably aren’t even listening to me right now. There’s probably a murder happening and you can’t stop it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Because what would you do, tell the Valar? Ha!” He doubled over laughing. “What would they do? They’d probably get in that boat and watch it with you. They have no qualms about watching atrocities happen and doing nothing. That has been proven.” More soberly, he added, “if they cared, they would have stopped some of the things I did. If the Valar really cared, you would have been the one to raise your children, and I’d be banished beyond the mountains, or better still, dead. That would have caused everyone a lot less trouble.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He cracked open the last of the crab’s legs and scraped the meat out indelicately. “You can go ashore in Valinor, right? See people? Socialize? I bet you’re the talk of the town, walking around with a Silmaril in your necklace. The conquering hero. Dragonslayer.” Maglor threw the leg at the star, watching it arc towards the sea and disappear into the churning waves just like something else, so long ago. “Anyway, fuck you. And if you see her, tell my mother I say hello.”</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thanks for reading! If you saw any mistakes, leave a comment and I'll fix it--I proofread but didn't have time to get a beta reader.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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